Windfall
by Measured
Summary: Subtext and sweetness in brevity. A short series of Isaac/Ivan ficlets. Part 4: It was easier to say things without the thinning, censoring, and dulling effect of speech.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Hand in Hand  
Day/Theme: 9/15) inevitable flooding of one's soul  
Fandom: Golden Sun  
Character/Pairing: Isaac/Ivan  
Summary: So when he offered the solution, soft and stammering slightly even then that _Psyenergy can be transferred by touch,_ Isaac took his hand without another word spoken.  
Rating: PG?  
A/N: this came about from a stray thought after the whole meeting Ivan scene ("Does that mean they held hands all over the continent to read all those people's minds?)

**.**

Ivan took a breath as he focused on the woman's mind. She was an ordinary housewife, but sometimes it was these kinds that showed the kind of information they needed. Isaac's fingers closed over his. Ivan was glad deep inside that Isaac wore gloves, for he wasn't sure what he'd do if their bare hands were touching this much. He'd probably sweat, or feel nervous. However, it was necessary, and he had grown used to the contact. So much so that all Isaac had to do was nod in the direction of the person who they needed to get information from, and Ivan would slip his hand in Isaac's. Transaction complete.

This was far easier than relaying a thought to Isaac through retelling. At times he would forget an aspect or paraphrase, and at times, that could be disastrous. It wasn't so much that Ivan lacked memorization skills, more that he was unused to being the center of attention. When all eyes were turned to him, even familiar ones, he felt anxious. It was a common enough problem, akin to stage fright.

So when he offered the solution, soft and stammering slightly even then that _Psyenergy can be transferred by touch,_ Isaac took his hand without another word spoken. Other times, Isaac had gripped his wrist or arm, always in a gentle, yet firm manner.

While it was for the good of everyone, that didn't stop things from filtering through. Thoughts, brief touches, things lost on everyone else. As much as Ivan tried to lie to himself, he knew that he liked this closeness, and how this part was monopolized. He liked the feeling of his psyenergy threading itself through Isaac's body, and how it flickered, shimmering as earth and air met. When they touched, he could relay a thought in an instant. It felt smooth and liquid, and so much easier to express the purity of a feel before dissolving it into words and speaking it aloud. He liked the aftershocks as the energy that had become theirs vanished like sparks into the air.

He had never said a word of the things beginning within him, but when they were like this, a path of force, unbroken and connected.

It was a simplified, stripped down. Even a faint touch, passed off as nothing but business could speak wonders. As Isaac's hands left his, Ivan felt the feel of leather, and Isaac's thumb stroking down the fleshy rounded part of his palm. It was a secret, brief touch, a quiet admission, and it said so very much.

Coda:

While Garet and Mia had never said anything about their method of pooling psyenergy, upon joining the group, Sheba had many things to say about it.

"So basically, you held hands all the way through Weyard? How romantic," Sheba said, with a smirk.

"Er, I wouldn't say _all _of Weyard," Ivan said, "There were places where Mind Reading wasn't needed...and any touch could do, even a poke in the arm."

"_Mmmhmmm_," Sheba said, " And yet you kept holding hands instead of poking arms. What's next? Cure All via kissing?"

Piers turned a lovely shade of rosy pink. Felix cleared his throat and looked the other way. Apparently there had been just such a dire situation that had called for such things.

"Obviously I need to try the way your team does things," Sheba said.

"Aww, but I liked your sarcastic retellings of people's thoughts," Jenna cut in.

"Indeed, Jenna. I dare say you'll like the 'new ways' even better."


	2. True Colors

Title: True Colors  
Series: Golden Sun  
Character/Pairing: Isaac/Ivan  
Summary: Isaac is every color he's ever known.  
Rating: G?  
A/N: 21) Something in a shade of grey, something in-between, The Gauntlet.

synesthesia  
n.  
1. A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.  
2. A sensation felt in one part of the body as a result of stimulus that is applied to another, as in referred pain.  
-American Heritage Dictionary

**.**

Ivan was, and always had been impossibly different. He saw glimpses of a future he didn't recognize, and could tap into the thoughts of others. It had been an attribute he played as a child, and which lead him to have a nuanced grasp of humanity. People rarely said what they were thinking. Nice words often came with bitter thoughts. All too often had he heard someone say that he seemed an intelligent boy, and heard the echoing after of _smart, but sure is creepy_.

But through all these impossibilities, he could perceive the world in ways others couldn't. Ivan saw colors everywhere. What for most was a linear, finite thing became gossamer and connected. Piers was a warm light blue, kindness the color of warm aqua vitae. Mia was a similar color, but a shade darker. Garet and Jenna were red and orange, their energy flooding out of them in fits of anger and happiness, each as bound to each other as the sides of a coin. Sheba was a shade of mauve, and Kraden was the yellowed color of aged paper. And Isaac was every color he had ever known. He was grey when he was thinking, when he was stuck deep in his thoughts or planning out the next move. He often had the color of warm earth, of rich brown wood. When he grew angry the brown took a red inflection, when it was anger for someone else's sake, it turned maroon.

When he was sad, the color turned to a shade mixed of browns and blues, and the warmest gold when he was happy. He categorized them by palette, and it was Isaac he watched most of all. For all his stoicism, Isaac was many colors, many different shades unfolding. But then, Ivan knew the scope of Isaac's thoughts, he knew their deepness and changes. Despite the agreement of the wall, that he was not to read Isaac's thoughts, Isaac at times shared a deeper feeling when they shared psyenergy. Ivan preferred to think of it as an intimacy between them rather than an accidental aftereffect of sharing his telepathic powers.

**.**

Most of the rest of the group had already retired to bed. Their colors as they slept were dimmer, but still there in varying shades. Felix had kept watch last night, and thus went early. Piers cited the same reason, as he too had kept Felix company during the long night and boredom of the night watch. Mia had overusing her Psyenergy with healing, and thus nearly dropped into bed with exhaustion.

Jenna and Sheba had crawled to their bedding early to have extra time to spend whispering and giggling over secret things.

Ivan also felt the pressure of weariness, as if it were a weight on his eyelids, pushing them down. He ignored it and kept his seat by the fire.

"I'm staying to keep you company...if you don't mind."

"I don't mind," Isaac said.

Isaac's colors never flitted into the 'annoyed' burnt sienna color, so Ivan know this to be true. Besides, Isaac wasn't in the habit of lying to protect anyone's feelings.

"I wonder what color I am," Ivan said.

"What?"

Isaac frowned in concentration.

Ivan swallowed nervously and looked down. "Oh...no I was thinking aloud. Please ignore it."

"Colors, you said..." Isaac said thoughtfully. He thought for a long while, turning it over in his mind, focusing on a place just beyond Ivan's shoulder.

"You're purple, the sort of warm purple...like when it gets darker, near dusk."

Ivan looked up in surprise. "You see..colors? I thought it was merely a Jupiter Adept reaction."

Isaac shook his head. "Some people who aren't adepts have it. It seems to be something unrelated."

"You never mentioned," Ivan said.

"It never came up," Isaac replied.

"You already knew I was...like this?"

"You once shared a thought about a women whose mind we were reading. You thought to yourself that she seemed 'very aqua'."

"Well...She was."

Ivan had a quick, panicked thought of what if Isaac had accidentally caught other thoughts.

"I can't see my own colors," Ivan admitted, almost sheepishly.

Isaac gripped at Ivan's wrist, as they did when sharing psyenergy to read minds.  
The colors coalesced together. His and Isaac's spread, as thick as ink. He saw a dark purple that Isaac had mentioned, spreading along the gold of Isaac's current color. They met until it was one mix of color, a lighter shade than it had been before.

"I haven't always had this gift. It's fairly recent," Isaac said.

What was the meshing of psyenergy, truly? Ivan had thought it a simple thing, yet found pieces of himself embedded in Isaac. Even the colors of Isaac had taken on his own hue. Had he too, been painted with Isaac's colors?


	3. Prophecy

Title: Prophecy  
Day/Theme: 9/18) destiny is funny stuff  
Fandom: Golden Sun  
Character/Pairing: Isaac/Ivan, a NPC  
Summary: The prophecy left out a few things.  
A/N: inspired by a fanart of similar name by Signomi. Something like this actually happens in game – the whole "...THAT LITTLE GIRL IS IVAN? THE IVAN? OUR HERO? Eeep." thing, not the gay.

**.**

Yegelos had always been her idol, of sorts. She could just swoon over tales of how _strong_ and handsome he was. Really, if only she had born back then, she'd have married him. Sure thing, no doubt about it. Since there hadn't been a time machine invented, she set her sights on Ivan, the hero of Contigo, for Surely Ivan would be just as proud, handsome and heroic as Yegelos had been. Destiny practically demanded it of him.

So, she was overjoyed when the day finally came for Ivan and his fellow heroes to come to Contigo, she picked him out right away. A bit on the short side, but he had a aura of stoicism that made up for any lack of height. He was just so _mature_ and hero like. It was really becoming in a man.

So as soon as she got the chance, she brought along her own budle of flowers with all the other revelers in the city. She laid a few spare flowers at his feet and curtsied.

"Oh Ivan, you've finally returned– and you've really grown too!" She giggled to herself, for she'd been waiting for this moment for a long time.

He cleared his throat and shook his head. He pointed to the boy who walked close beside him, who had turned even a paler shade than usual now.

"Oh. ....Are you sure?" She said.

Ivan – the _true_ Ivan looked neither heroic nor dashing. He looked like a prepubescent girl, to tell the truth. Slender with a girlish and framed by a fringe of soft blond hair. Deep purple eyes and a loose, scholar's garb. All her daydreams of running off with a muscled hero were like smoke in the air. Poof. Vanished.

"Quite," Isaac said.

Since there was no way to undo the awkwardness, she slipped away with a flimsy excuse. Her plans for her life were in dire need of changing, but then Ivan hadn't come alone. That Felix boy certainly was handsome....

**.**

Long after the girl had left, Ivan still felt dreary. His shoulders slumped under the weight the girl had heaped on them.

"Ignore her. She was immature anyways," Isaac said.

"It's just...I guess I'm not much of a hero? I'm not really strong or brave."

"The prophecy said that you'd ' bring the wings of Anemos alight'. It never said you'd be another Yegelos. People just put their own expectations in."

Isaac took Ivan's hand in his own. He took one brief look around to ensure there was no one around. He pulled on Ivan's arm towards a darker, unseen place from the crowds and bustle of the celebration.

Ivan could only gasp as Isaac pulled him closer, and crushed their lips together.

Sheba was right. Thoughts shared by kisses were so much deeper and complex than simply holding hands. The energy shared was more lush, deeper. Everything Isaac hadn't said came bursting through. _You're not a disappointment. I rely on you. You're clever, intelligent – what would I do without your help?_

They rested against each other, resting, breathing, so intimate as the flutes played far off. A skittering of kicked pebbles and children's laughter broke their reverie.

"We should return. They're waiting for their hero," Isaac said.

"I'm coming," Ivan said. He leaned up and pressed a quick, shy kiss to Isaac's throat. They had a world to save, and a prophecy to fulfill.

So he wasn't Yegelos. So he wasn't strong. Even with all that, even with losing the Shaman's Rod and finding his way, he'd still managed to get the Wings of Anemos. But he hadn't done it alone. Maybe Yegelos could've, but Ivan never wanted to work without his companions. Mia's serenity, Garet's sense of humor and Isaac... No, he couldn't do it alone. Still, the prophecy had left out a few things. For one, it never mentioned that he'd be frail, yet the cleverest one of the bunch. It never said that he'd fall in love with another hero or that the guardian of the Elemental Stars would turn out to be turning them the wrong way.

But then again, as the old adage went "i_Never trust the gods, for they are prone to mischief, and mortals are their prime amusement_" rang true.

Surely, somewhere beyond the clouds, the gods were laughing now.

Well Ivan would laugh right along with them.


	4. Flue

Title: Flue  
Series: Golden Sun  
Rating: PG?  
Author's note: November 26th - Golden Sun, Male of your choice/Ivan: use of the Mind Read ability to make up for shyness/Mind Read fetish, depending on which PoV you take - nothing is missed when psynergy flows.

**.**

Even with the knowledge that he wouldn't be rejected, Ivan still had a shyness about him. There was something clearer, and more sublime about a thought shared – even if it sometimes lead to accidental side thoughts which shouldn't have come up, which should have been kept to himself and never spoken aloud ever. He could slip his hand in Isaac's without even Sheba taking notice and press words, thoughts into his palm.

It was easier to say things without the thinning, censoring, and dulling effect of speech. Even if Isaac couldn't directly use Mind Read, he could run his thumb across the inside of Ivan's wrist, and without even a glance, a word, Ivan would know.

Nothing was missed when Psyenergy flowed. Even as tacit as Isaac was, when it came to thoughts, he was deep and downright loquacious. Isaac was always thinking, and they were the intelligent, and meaningful thoughts. They were the kind of thoughts that were like whole different worlds compared to the usual ones. Isaac was as far from shallow as could possibly be on the scale. He was philosophical and caring and even kind under the surface, if only one looked.

But most didn't see through the barriers and probably loved someone entirely opposite, a composite of features varying in truth. Some attributed by daydreaming folly, others by misunderstanding.

And truth be told, it was something of an addiction, knowing someone's innermost thoughts, and touching them so deep that nothing else could compare. Throughout the day their hands sought each other's for intimacy, for of course, the usefulness of reading someone else's mind, and comfort. Their hands met and it was a spark of life that would fluctuate between them all day long.


End file.
